My first foray into the field of psychoacoustics research was the exploration of the DFA Fader. This paper focusses on how suggestive stimuli can interact with how we judge loudness. The paper was presented at the 142nd AES International Conference in Berlin on May 22nd. See the article written on this E-Brief by Dr. Joshua Reiss here.
Continuing from this paper, I hope to investigate more into the area of perceptual audio, and will be displaying future research here.
Currently positioned in Lero – The Irish Software Research Centre on the UL Campus for the months of June, July & August 2017 as part of the UL40 Summer Research Programme.
Verbal suggestions of loudness changes have been reported to result in significantly higher loudness ratings than those of a control group [1]. This study seeks to extend these results to VoIP applications by implementing visual priming cues within a VoIP interface and assessing their effect on audio quality ratings. A list of common visual priming cues was compiled and cross-referenced with prevalent design features found in popular mobile VoIP Applications. Fourteen participants were divided into two groups: one received embedded priming cues and one did not. Quality ratings were gathered using a MOS rating scale. The results are presented and their relevance discussed.
Engineering Brief on Audio Engineering Society Website
Anecdotal evidence suggests that when performers request loudness increases in their on-stage monitoring device, feedback regarding task completion is sometimes sufficient for the performer to perceive a loudness change. This is colloquially known as a DFA fader. Given the dearth of empirical evidence, qualitative interviews were conducted with live sound engineers to investigate the type of feedback required to successfully deliver a suggestion of a loudness change. Following this, 22 participants completed a paired comparison listening experiment to determine whether verbal suggestions produce perceived loudness changes. The experimental results demonstrate a significant difference between participants receiving a verbal suggestion and those that did not in 12 out of 20 presentations. These results support the use of verbal suggestions to convey loudness increases in live sound contexts.
Engineering Brief on Audio Engineering Society Website